Somatotype analysis of freestyle wrestlers compared with nonathletes for health science research

The purpose of this study was to show somatotype and physical characteristic differences between freestyle wrestlers and nonathletes. Differences among weight categories for freestyle wrestlers were also examined. In this study, we first observed thirteen elite wrestlers and thirteen nonathletes. The participants were measured with the modified somatotype method of Heath-Carter, resulting in 3 kinds of somatotypes (endomorphic, mesomorphic, and ectomorphic) and 1 balanced type (central type). The nonathletes consisted of 4 endomorphic, 5 mesomorphic, 2 ectomorphic, and 2 central types. The wrestlers consisted of 12 mesomorphic types and only 1 ectomorphic type. Subdividing wrestler somatotypes resulted in 8 endomorphic mesomorph, 3 balanced mesomorph, and 2 mesomorph-ectomorph types. Wrestlers had higher weight, body mass index, and mesomorphic component values than did nonathletes. However, the wrestlers’ endomorphic and ectomorphic component values were lower than in the nonathletes. Furthermore, wrestlers in the heavy class tended to have higher endomorphic, very high mesomorphic, and lower ectomorphic component values. The data from our study provides in part physical characteristics of freestyle wrestlers that can be used to establish a reference for systemic study of sports health sciences.